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“[My father] would perform, as Daedalus did, dazzling displays of artfulness. [...] Daedalus, too, was indifferent to the human cost of his projects.”
Because as of yesterday, I did not.
So I’ve just started to read the critically-acclaimed award-winning (and all that jazz) graphic novel Fun Home by Alison Bechdel, and this allusion came up.
How is Bechdel’s father like Daedalus? Wait first, what is Daedalus like and what did he do?
Learn a little more about Greek mythology by listening to the CultureCast above (by pressing the little blue play botton), or by clicking through and checking out the transcript and further sources.
Daedalus: Father of Icarus (CultureCast #037)
(To play the audio directly in this page, click the little blue play button. To download the file, right click the text link and choose “Save Link As…”)
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Transcript
Hello CultureCats, this is Joshua Hwang with another 90 Seconds to Culture podcast.
Daedalus: Father of Icarus
The following is a very condensed history of Daedalus.
Daedalus was from the beautiful city of Athens in Greece and was well known for his craftsmanship. One day his nephew, Perdix, was sent to live with him to learn of the mechanical arts. However, as Perdix’s natural talent blossomed forth, Daedalus grew jealous. So much so that Daedalus tried to kill Perdix by pushing him off of a cliff, however goddess Athena saved him.
Banished to Crete, here, he met King Minos. The King had heard of his skill and forced him and his son Icarus to build a labyrinth, similar to a maze, to imprison the half-man, half-bull called Minotaur.
In order to keep the labyrinth private knowledge, King Minos imprisoned Daedalus and Icarus. To escape, Daedalus constructed two sets of wings for the both of them to fly away. As the wings were made of feathers and fastened together with thread and wax, Daedalus instructed his son neither to fly too high or the sun would melt the wax nor too low or the sea foam would soak the feathers.
Of course, as they were fleeing his son, Icarus, having a bit too much fun, began to fly towards the heavens. His wings of wax melted and he plummeted to the sea, where he died and his father cried out in sorrow.
Eventually Daedalus reached Camicus, in Sicily, under King Cocalus. And though King Minos was still looking for Daedalus, when Minos arrived King Cocalus had his daughters kill Minos.
Sources / Further Reading:
Wikipedia: Daedalus
Wikipedia: King Minos
Wikipedia: Icarus - Of wax wings fame.
Wikipedia: Labyrinth - A labyrinth is not a maze. Who would have thunk it?
[tags]daedalus, greek mythology, icarus, wings of wax, minotaur, culture, podcast[/tags]
(image from RobW_ via flickr)
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{ 2 comments… read them below or add one }
I can’t remember where I learned the story of Daedalus, but it might’ve been in high school or after reading dialogues in which Socrates would be accused of being a Daedalus. But I did go to Saunders’ farm a couple years ago where I learned about the differences between mazes and labyrinths, as they have some excellent hedge mazes.
How was Socrates a Daedalus?
And only you would be so interested in hedge mazes